i read books i saw strangers reading on the new york subway
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
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whenever i see people reading books on the nyc subway, i think they're so cool. so.... i decided to read the books they read.
PART 1 IN LONDON: • i read books i saw str...
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FAQs:
😭 what happened to your intro? it got copyrighted ://///
🤠 how old are you? 24!
📆 when is your birthday? 18th october 1998 (libra)
🎓 where did you go to university? i studied english at durham!
🔎 where do you live? new york city, usa
💼 what is your job? research assistant in the publishing industry
🎥 what do you film with? lumix gh5 + canon g7x
👾 what do you use to edit? final cut pro
📫 how do I contact you? jackedwards@sixteenth.co or social media!
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thanks very much for watching, don't forget to subscribe, and give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed!!
This concept reminded me of one of my high school English teachers. She wanted to be familiar with the books that her students were interested in outside of class so she would keep track of what books we were reading in the few minutes before the bell rang and class started. Her rule for herself was that as soon as she had seen the same book being read by at least two students, she had to read it.
You just described how I got rooked into reading the Twilight series 😂
dude, that's so cool! lucky you, to be having such teachers ✨
I love that!
I do this as an English teacher! I also have an anonymous”what book should Ms X read next?”
thats so cute
“one thing about me is i am always falling in love with strangers on the train” relatable.
Never heard something more accurate
Seriously same. Though my city still doesn't have a subway well they made it, but it's not opened yet. But most of falling in love with strangers comes from riding buses or walking on roads. Actually, love might not be the right word. I just like to wonder what might be happening in their life. Are they happy and blessed with life? What is their story? And write a book in my mind which is never gonna be published
This sounds like it could be the opening line of a novel.
that would be a great first line in a book
Very inspiring for girlies who are always secretly aiming to look mysterious and interesting while reading on the subway
You took the words right out of my mouth
What shall we read next to look mysterious
Shhh don’t let them know our secret 😂
just read any book but put a fake book cover over it. make it look antique LOL
Few video ideas:
1)What Emma Watson reads
2)All the books mentioned on F.R.I.E.N.D.S
3)Reading books recommended by your subscribers
4)One book from every genre
5)Only reading translated book for a week
6)What Jisoo from Blackpink reads
7)Books about religion
8)Biographies and Autobiographies
9)Celebrity lifestyle part 2
10)How different your life is in Paris and in England.
11)What Elio from Call Me By Your name reads
12)1 Book from every country
thank you!
U DID IT!!
6&11 sound good to me. Hope he’ll do it
@@jack_edwards these are excellent choices!!
@@jack_edwards Also, Emrata recommended more books!
I've never been this early I just wanna say I picked up reading books again this year only because of you and finished 40 books in three months. You made a difference in my life when I was at my lowest. Thank you 💖
Omg same, he helped me get out of a big reading slump❤️✨
this means the world to me, i hope you're doing better now
Same! I play his videos at night when I want to sleep and my brain refuses to shut up lol. I let them play in the background when I'm trying finish a task as well. They're really helpful
Me too!!! I found Jack’s channel a year ago and his suggestions are the ONLY ones i enjoy. Thank you Jack!!!!
Me too.
When I lived in Japan, I loved that book stores give all purchased books a paper cover to protect the book as well as for privacy for reading in public
But then Jack couldnt make this video :(
People shouldn’t be recording strangers on their daily commute to work, home, etc. When Jack mentioned that I assumed it wasn’t with malicious intent, but that’s really creepy. I always have books with me and the thought of someone recording me without my consent just because I’m reading, a very quiet and intimate activity in a public space, is very unsettling.
@@ladyterror4663it’s honestly not that big of a deal. He didn’t even show their faces, and I’m sure the government and surveillance etc have been watching us for years, so a random CZcamsr taking photos of the book were reading should not be high on the list of potential worries
@@ladyterror4663 If you think reading is an intimate activity, isn't it paradoxical to do it in public? What do you mean by 'intimate' here?
It’s funny that Jack is a Londoner now living in New York, because I’m in New Yorker now living in London who used to make an entire notes section of books I would see on the subway.
In a way, this video - with its warm lighting, Jack’s sweet voice and hearing the “this is a Manhattan bound 2 train…” - it all really gave me a sense of nostalgia and helped me feel like I’m home for the holidays.
This comment is so wholesome:)
The NYC subway certainly has a lot of surprises. The books people carry along with them are all distinct.
someone's aiming to be the next guy without a mustache
“And someone knew I was weak and targeted me…” 😂😂😂 So relatable for any non-New Yorker taking the subway for the first time/first time in a while.
I felt sad when I saw that I only read 36 books this year because I thought they might be more, but given that I already read books over 500 pages and the fact that I read a lot of books outside my comfort zone and that it was the first time I tried reading English books and I have read four and now I'm reading the Fifth, and most importantly of all, this year i finished my first year high school And I finished a third of the second year. This means that I have done a lot this year and I am proud of myself.
and Thank you. Many of the books I will read next year are your nominations
(I hope my writing is clear TT )
Update The year ended with a score of 46. I don't know how I read 10 more books, but I'm happy with that :)
About acts of service, I haven’t read it but you said it was quite observing in a way and the first thing I thought when you showed the book is that it looked like an eye. Maybe that explains the cover?
Hey, I read like 5, so you're good
Yeah the number of books doesn't matter. I read over fifty last year but were a good chunk of those childhood books to get me out of reading slumps? Yes, yes they were. Meanwhile there's a huge biography I've been tackling for.. almost a year now, and those pages didn't count for my record last year haha and they were HUNDREDS of pages.
It's not a contest. How ever many books you read in a year is the exact number of books you were supposed to read. It's about what you got out of the books, quality over quantity and other cliches.
not even 2 minutes in and this video is a classic already
I read all about love over 20 years ago. As a cishet woman it seemed pretty radical to me back then. Things have changed SO much. The way as a society we talk about gender and sexuality and relationships is extraordinarily different than it was when this book was released in 1999 (for the better!)
nope not for the better unfortunately
@@inaboo74 I’d say the increase in inclusivity is definitely for the better. There are still all sorts of -phobic people and censorship and whatnot, but things are being spoken about more. And of course, the internet allows for all sorts of perspectives to be shared, that wouldn’t be given much space otherwise.
I'm back to reading like I used to before I started working all thanks to you. A 3 year reading slump was overcome and this channel is an important inspiration here. Love what you're doing!
“There’s more dragging here than an episode of RuPaul” JACK YOU’RE KILLING US 😂😂
As a bi woman myself, in defense of bell hooks, I think it's okay for a lot of feminist analysis to be heteronormative when it's specifically analysing the ways in which men and women relate to each other in relationships. People dating people of the same gender are going to have different experiences that require their own nuanced analysis, but it's okay to analyse specifically how patriarchy within het dating affects people considering that's most of the population.
i was thinking the same thing
Also, this book was published in 1999. Like how was he missing that? I’m so much angrier about this “critique” because I feel like it lacks basic critical thought of the time period and of who bell hooks was in that time period
and it misses the fact that we still live in a society that conditions cis men and cis women in very specific ways, and that is the majority. Even if bell hooks was queer/lesbian - she still saw many problems that exist in our abilities to love given those binaries. And they still exist, even if now 20 years later we see more lgbtqai folks step to the front.
@@bernsky Yeah exactly!
While this is true, it’s important to note that this is a manifesto on love and for it to leave out the experiences of queer people as part of that IS very heteronormative
You're videos are so oddly calming..love hearing you talk about something you're so passionate about :')
I wonder if any of the subway readers also hated the book after they finished it.
Also, the "FUCK FUCK FUCK" artwork in the bedroom is phenomenal. Hahaha.
Literally BEGGING you to read anything by Diane Setterfield. I have no idea why she's not talked about more, her writing style is so effortlessly magical. The Thirteenth Tale and Once Upon A River especially are some of my favourite books ever, they are just EXQUISITELY crafted in my opinion, and kind of give circe or home fire vibes.
I always get a little bit defensive going into a review of one of my favourite books, like I did here with All About Love, but I have to say that I understand your criticism. I just don’t interpret the book the same way. I read it with queer love in mind and was actually astounded by how open-minded and label-defying the concepts were. It’s one of the reasons it’s important to me. I do agree that her examples of love tend to be hetero, but for me her theory is so much bigger than that, and the concrete examples are only meant to illustrate larger points. Anyways, thanks for putting a spotlight on the book, and for a great video as always.
jack is really living the main character life
0:15 there’s a perfect song for this called beautiful stranger by laufey!! the song is about having a crush on someone on the train and it immediately came to mind when you said this :)
Same here!
Heya, other Laufey listener! 👋
Video ideas
- WORLD CUP READING CHALLENGE (a book per country and then you of course rank them and they draw the same way they would in the world cup)
- Reading Qatari authors
- Reading Arab books
-Reading LGBTQIA+ authors (James Baldwin please)
- Reading a book from where my dart at world map lands
- Reading Chris' Pines recommendations (there's a pap pic of him holding books)
- Reading my way through alphabet (different letter for different author)
- Reading my way through a continent (lets say Europe or South America)
- Reading only one certain color books from a bookstore (let's say pink)
- Reading only books that contain certain word in them (let's say 'holiday')
- Ranking certain authors books (let's say Jane Austen)
- Reading books set in/about NYC (or some other location)
- Reading only books from certain century
the world cup idea is PERFECT
I used to read a lot on the metro when I travelled to uni and back every day. I even read Fifty Shades of Grey without any shame and I remember my friends telling me to maybe stop doing that 😂
I've said it before, I'll say it again: would love for you to do a "reading books I see strangers buying" 🥰
Yesss!
OMG I just realised this: Jack’s moving cities like Joe Goldberg minus the grotesque violence but talking about books nonetheless.
Video idea, lesser known books by well known authors. I came up with the idea because Im currently reading The little friend by Donna Tartt and though everyone knows about The Secret History or The Gold Finch, but not as many people have probably read her first works. I bet there are loads of great lesser known books out there that could make a great video. keep up the great work Jack. L
If only you did this for the Paris metro! Then you could have done this in every city you've lived in. A trilogy of sorts.
Last time you did a video like this, I had a new favourite book of all time. So pumped for this one!
which book was it? :)
Come on now you need to mention that book
@@philbert3333 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell! I think It’s appeal is kind of subjective (i.e not really plot heavy but more focused on characters), but I can’t stop recommending it! It’s so interesting and easy to get into as well!
I absolutely love this concept; please keep it up as you travel! As a nosy person who lives somewhere without major public transportation this scratches an itch for me 😂
Your first sentence just made me think “I hope someone writes a book titled ‘Strangers on a Train’ I feel like it could have so much potential”
Patricia Highsmith did.
The only unrealistic thing about this video is how clear the "train announcement" in the beginning was...
I've been working on Hanya Yanagihara's new book lately, "To paradise". I saw someone reading the book totally by accident on the bus the other day, I didn't even know she had a new book out (read the amazing "A little life" not so long ago), needless to say I ran to the nearest book store. Thank you people reading on buses, subways and all !
Yessssssss, I am so happy we get the New York subway video, I was worried it would go the way of Paris.
paris will be part 3 -- i promise!
@@jack_edwards That's great, Jack, thank you so much. I'll be holding you to that.
Honestly this is a fascinating cultural study since you have lived in different countries and cities to see what different people are interested in! 🙂
This is a fun video. I don't think you can judge a person by the book they're reading though. We've all read bad books.
When you picked up Acts of Service, i saw one of my favorite books! On Writing helped me soooo much with my writing. Hope you get to it soon! It’s a treat :)
i haven't even watched yet but this makes me wanna read on the subway more often
I love when youtubers make New York really aesthetic. Like my favorite part is always the grime and the poverty!
Felt this
09:45 not the fingers' movement. jack def let his hidden thoughts win in this one lmao
I'm an introvert myself, but if I saw Jack in public I would totally strike up a conversation! I would be starstruck :) !
The editing of this video is like top top tier! The framing? The transitions?? The music??? So so good !!!! (it always is lol but I thought it deserved its own shout out)
was literally binge watching jack's videos and this dropped!! my fav series
I was just about to suggest that you ask these folks if you could take pictures of them (without face) with their books! But you actually managed to do that sneakily!😆
Great video as always!💗
Your subway experiences are seriously relatable...I struggle with public transport in my country every day too
"And you too can spend your weekend reading aggressively average books" 😆 if that's not compelling advertisement then I do t know what is 😜
Ugh your videos are so lovely they’re such a comfort. What a great idea for this one, loved it!
I live in nyc and I know exactly how disgusting and filthy it is, but i’m constantly reminded of how beautiful it is by youtubers like you
0:12 "One thing to know about me, is I a constantly falling in love with strangers on the train." What an opening line.
I felt the same about all about love, I highlighted so much of it and really enjoyed reading it (even tho at times it was both repetitive and felt a little like a self help book) but I felt so underwhelmed at that ending. I get that she's a Christian but after all the highly interesting topics that she talked about ending the book talking about angels was a huge MEH
Can you do a reading like Andrew Garfield?!? He just talked about a bunch of books he read in a GQ video!!
I feel like ppl reading on the downtown trains are always reading experimental stuff from McNally Jackson lol. If u do a part two, i would recommend coming uptown and taking the 1 up to Columbia bc i live on the uws and go to school up there and i see ppl reading a lot of great memoirs and non fiction!
also there’s an amazing used bookstore called westsider books up here on 80th and bway that i think u would love! great prices and u def have to dig but it’s so homey in there :))
Your outfits are always top tier but in this video they are 🌠 immaculate 🌠
All about Love is a GEM. That has to be ready more than once. Such a reflective & refreshing read
Want to point out all about love was published 21 years ago. In 2001/ early 2000s, much of what bell hooks wrote about were very radical. Amazing how things have changed in 21 years!
All about love by bell hooks changed my entire year. I read it early 2022 and I thank GOD I did
The train voice at the beginning is too calming to be the NYC subway train
Ik i am quite late but hope u see this comment .
I am really thankful to you and CZcams itself for recommending ur channel . I always wanted to get into reading, (just for context , i never liked it) .
One of my great friend actually told me to give it a try again . And i finally did , when i saw ur channel and few of ur videos . I found the idea of reading interesting all over again coz of u , and then discovered my love for books .
I never liked those beginner friendly books that everyone recommended me and i was struggling to find proper book recommendation outside of that other than Hoover .
Ur great taste on books surely helped me to read the nicest books and spend the best possible months after getting depressed over a heartbreak for so long .
Keep doing the great work
Loved this! You have inspired me to read 2 stranger's books. I added the challenge to my reading journal. Do you keep a reading journal? Thanks for sharing this entertaining content!
A reading journal hmmmmmm that sounds Smart
I watched your video on picking out books for specific types of people (not sure about the exact title). Ended up picking up "the housekeeper and the professor" from the library and I'm about halfway through and really enjoying it!
Honestly is really hard trying to figure out what book some people are reading without being too obvious, like PLS SHOW ME THE COVER SO I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE READING, MY CURIOSITY IS KILLING ME
Omg you caring about a book being so gender binary 😭😭😭 I’m nonbinary I FEEL SO SEEN 😭😭😭😭😭 also aroace so yep, there are A LOT of forms of love✨
Also I love your new haircut❤️
in case you haven't heard, i think you'll love laufey's song "beautiful stranger", literally the concept of crushing on strangers on public transport. you've inspired me to read in public more, really wanna copy this video idea irl as well but I take the bus and can't really see book covers when people read, if they ever do. my goal in life is truly to be someone's public commute/library/bookstore crush, thanks for the video ♡
AAA YES!!! Such a cute song!
I have a really difficult maths test in 3 hours. I should be studying for it but I am here, watching Jack judging strangers
Good luck! Lemme know how it goes and what it's on
@@elisesanchez3813 it went decent. I took CAT. Its a management test for the management colleges in India.
Loved your commentary on "all about love"! As a queer, enby person who is reading a lot of critical theory for my English Lit Masters, I often feel like many "radical" texts about gender/sexuality from a few decades ago lack the awareness of non-cishet or -cisgay identities and it frustrates me to see academia being so slow in that regard. Hearing you criticise those same things as a cishet guy just warmed my heart, it's rare to see someone who isn't directly affected by those exclusions be so empathetic and thoughtful about noticing and highlighting them! Jack is truly out here pulling exponentially more than his own weight for the straight guys and I appreciate it!
Hi! Do you have any recommendations like All About Love that are more inclusive?
9:46 I love the image of Jack talking about the main character and the guy are doing it a lot and in the back in the frame the f word is repeated over and over
falling in love with strangers on the train is a personality trait for hot people and hot people only!
I JUST finished The Children Act by Ian McEwan and its AMAZING. Can only recommend if you want to add one more book to your tbr list (that probably already has 100 books on it🙈)
It's funny, bc just because someone is reading a book on the subway doesn't mean that they like it... Now at least if you find someone reading a book you've read, you can ask their opinion. You can do it, Jack!
Video idea: Reading books found while stooping in NYC! If you don’t know, stooping is the hunt for free stuff that people leave outside on the curb/stoop when they move out. I’ve found so many best selling books that way. It’s like a nerdy treasure hunt :) best toward the end of the month.
I think all about love is more a criticism of heterosexuality and the family dynamics and gendered emotional roles it produces than a universal proclamation on the essence of love and how that must manifest materially for everyone. So the fact that hooks analyzes binaried gender roles in the book--roles that don't make room for nonbinary and gender nonconforming folks--is meant to lampoon the binaried, heteronormative power systems that affect us all to varying degrees. Though i identify myself as nonbinary now, the ways that feminized emotional care roles were thrust on me in my childhood/adolescence still had a major effect on my relational abilities. All about love is a primer to unlearn; but to unlearn, you have to parse out what was a heteronormative belief system and i see bell hooks doing that in the book, especially when it comes to abusive relationships...love your videos Jack !!
jack in that that blue baseball cap and jacket is just making me think of joe from you and i can't think of anything else throughout that particular review 😭
Can't wait for more contains! Your videos always motivate me to finish my readings when the phone looks so captivating.
I hope to see this kind of videos coming forward:
1. Books IU read (she's like a korean-sweetheart, Taylor Swift version of Korea. She writes songs like stories and she loves reading. She said her grandmother used to make reading as a punishment for her).
2. Fiction books billionaires read. Elon Musk and Bill Gates read some science-fiction books and said those books affect them a lot.
3. My reviews on the favorite books of my favorite writers.
4. Books The Avengers actors and actresses recommended
5. Book recommendations specifically made for you
Giving a beginning synopsis of Acts of Service with the hand gesture and repeated word sign was all I needed today😂
it's always the reader youtubers with the most creative video ideas !!
I've started buying physical books again since your I saw London tube video. Hoping the girl/nb of my dreams will be brave enough to talk to me if they see me reading their favourite book in public.
have you read tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow? i'd been hearing about it everywhere and (for me) it really lived up to the hype! such an interesting book about a complicated few people and how much they mean to each other. would love to hear your thoughts!
my favorite concept ever omg and the editing is GREAT
i can tell my humour is broken bc that missing the mark joke really got to me
i think i'm inclined to disagree about "all about love"! i do think it strays into gender essentialism a little bit, but i found the theory behind it was still solid. just because gender is fluid, this doesn't negate the fact that gender roles exist and have an impact upon the way people socialized as boys and girls perceive their role as a lover. i think what hooks presented was not the idea that boys and girls are inherently different in the way they love, but that the way we teach boys and girls to love is different. i don't think we can have a healthy idea of love, which takes into account the fluidity of gender, without acknowledging these rigid differences in how we're socialized. although i definitely agree that hooks is a bit forceful in how she presents her ideas!!
One day I pray to be the person reading a book that inspires him lmao
wouldn't work for me, because I'm the person who reads all the books he recommends
@Trinity M I'm sure he reads other books too dw
The surprising range and diversity of the books you found gives me just a teensy bit of hope for humankind.
Still waiting for Jack to read ‘Tender is the flesh.’ 😭😭 It’s actually one of my favourite books, with a concept starting a conversation I always want to be having. The literary techniques and quotes get me every time, and the end is so good! 😫😍
THANK YOU for articulating my thoughts about "All about love". I wanted to love this book for what it is trying to be, but in the end, it was kind of disappointing for the reasons you pointed out.
I almost wish I lived somewhere where there were subways because I’d love to do this, but the closest I can get is an OC Transpo bus and I haven’t been on one in months
Why do I suddenly feel like being spotted in the subway by this man would be highlight of my life?
I would love to watch 'One classic and one contemporary fiction from every country' type of video ♡
bell hooks is from my hometown, so it always makes me smile hearing about her work.
Sad because I'm reading digital and nobody will know what I read and think I'm dark and mysterious
Felt. I find I am better at reading when it is on my phone so I will never live out my dark academia fantasy 🥲📚
I’ve seen the video where you spy on readers on the Tube so I’m excited about the NYC Subway Edition.
This is like Hot Dudes Reading but we’re more in the reading. Hot Dudes are a bonus. For some of us lol
Just because I'm reading a book doesn't mean i love it?!?! Its my nightmare that the people who saw me reading Bukowski think i love him 😭
Not me clicking on this video, shaking in my boots because I was reading 'all about love' on the subway earlier in November on the way to Harlem from Greenwich. I'm still early into the book, so I'll withhold my thoughts, but I definitely see the binary coding that you mentioned.
That’s a capital idea. I am traveling in Osaka now, reading Mrs. Dalloway.
Thanks for keeping reading alive.
Hey, you could do some Eastern European literature series! And not just classic Russian books like Dostoevsky but Czech, Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian and so on 💗💗
Georgian please
Video ideas (for what i would love to see)-
- Books for every season
- Books for different emotions
- Rainy days selections
- Reads that would keep you up at night
- Rare books (or less known)
- Asking strangers for book recommendations
- Asking kids/80+ old people for book recommendations
- 10 books from **country name** series
- Asking AI to recommend books
- Book recs by diff politicians around the world
- Oldest ever written books you can find.
Next you could do: 10 books i read that i got for free (at flee markets, someone giving away books at the
Street etc.)
Just wanted to say I love your videos! You introduced me to The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and I can’t thank you enough.
That NATO hat tho 🥲
The way you described "Mona" reminded of one of my fave books of 2022- "We Play Ourselves" by Jen Silverman! If you ever get around reading that one, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
I've been stalking strangers reading habits for year but I have yet to strike solid gold..... The internet is a cool thing because most people just come right out and tell you what they are reading.
As a native New Yorker, this is how I determine my tbr lmao
Jack making weird hand gestures to signify sex, when the board w fuck written a million times, sits just behind him. 😂